The last two weeks have been unusually busy for me. We had our annual Bible conference at the Church, which required much preparation and time. Of course I still had to keep up with all the mowing. Steve and his family were here for the conference and stayed on thru today. They are leaving this morning, and to be honest, I can't hardly stand to see them go. It looks like I'm gonna be a weepy, clingy old man. Anyway, I haven't accomplished some of the things I had hoped I would, but on the other hand there have been some small accomplishments. Here's how I see my failures and accomplishments. I'm sure I'm over-looking some of my most glaring failures, but I've had 53 years of practice at it.
FAILURES:
Started okay, but failed to post reviews of the messages preached in the Bible Conf.
Took some pictures of speakers at the Bible Conf., but failed to post them.
Took pictures of Gordon Cloud during a luncheon with Steve and me, but failed to post them.
Tried to upload a video from You Tube and failed... twice.
Failed to read the blogs that I normally read every day.
Failed...again to make my children and grandchildren know how important they are to me, and how much I love them.
SUCCESSES:
Posted a review of the first message of the Bible Conf.
Uploaded pictures of J.D. Hatfield.
Moderated the conference without preaching before and after each sermon.(Almost)
Convinced Pastor Jimmy Strickland, one of the conference speakers, to help me mow two mornings strait. I might have him come back and preach a whole week this summer.(grin)
Begged, borrowed, dickered, and traded to successfully acquire two Chevy trucks.
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Wednesday, March 07, 2007
Bro. Jim Hatfield and Bro. me
Bro. Jim Hatfield and Bro. Steve WeaverNo, Halloween didn't come early this year. No, these are not production photos of another "Scary Movie" sequel. These are pictures taken last night featuring world famous pastor/writer/blogger, J.D. Hatfield. Bro. Jim graciously consented to allow his picture to be taken with pastor Steve Weaver and yours truly (me). I can't speak for Steve, but I feel that my years of struggle to become successful in ministry has (have?) finally paid off. I am on the pinnacle. There is nowhere to go but down from here.
Seriously, though, it was a blessing to meet and fellowship with Bro. Hatfield. My impression of him, from far too short a time together, was:
He is passionate about God.
He is passionate about the Word of God.
He loves the People of God.
If you are not currently reading Voice of Vision you should start now.
Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Bible Conference Summaries
I haven't had time to post the summaries of the services as I intended, therefore check out my son Steve's excellent summaries of the services thus far. You can access his posts by clicking here.
Monday, March 05, 2007
REVIEW OF 1ST MESSAGE OF THE BIBLE CONFERENCE
We had a wonderful day on Sunday as we began our annual Bible Conference at the Way of Life Baptist Church. We enjoyed some Good singing by the River Jordan Quartet. The singing was great, but the highlight of this gathering was and is the preaching of the Word of God. Our souls were both fed and made hungry for more of God's precious truth.
The first message was by Pastor Jimmy Strickland. He preached from 2Cor. 7:2-16, showing to us the tender, pastoral heart of the apostle Paul as he wrote about how he had commanded the Church at Corinth to exercise Church discipline.
Paul had written to the Corinthians a letter of rebuke (1Corinthians) to correct some serious errors of both doctrine and practice. One very serious moral failure with which Paul dealt was that described in 1Cor. chapter 5. It was an example of gross, open sin that needed to be addressed by the church. However the Corinthians had not dealt with this sin. On the contrary, they were "puffed up" (v.2) and even "glorying" (v.6) in it.
Bro. Strickland helped us to see into Paul's heart as he wrote again to the Corinthians about this matter, only this time, not to rebuke them but to rejoice in the fact that they had received his instruction, obeyed it, and had made this matter right.
Paul had been grieved in his own spirit because he had had to write such a harsh rebuke to them. He didn't want to do it, but he had to do it. Bro. Strickland made the application of this by telling us that very often it would be much easier on a pastor to not have to deal with sin. It would be much easier not to practice Church discipline. It is not something that the pastor just wants to do. He leads his flock to exercise discipline because it is necessary for the spiritual health of the Church.
Also, Bro. Strickland spent a good deal of time dealing with the distinction between "godly sorrow" and "the sorrow of the world"(v.10). Another great theme of this message was the cause and effects of true repentance .
My review doesn't do this excellent message justice. Everyone seemed to agree that this was probably the best treatment of this passage that we had heard. My own personal reaction was:"Shoot! I wish I'da said that!"
I wish I had time to tell you about Bro. Steve Weaver's sermon on Nehemiah ch. 8 and Bro. Howard Estep's message on the Kingdom of God, but I gotta go mow. I'll try to write about the others later today if possible.
The first message was by Pastor Jimmy Strickland. He preached from 2Cor. 7:2-16, showing to us the tender, pastoral heart of the apostle Paul as he wrote about how he had commanded the Church at Corinth to exercise Church discipline.
Paul had written to the Corinthians a letter of rebuke (1Corinthians) to correct some serious errors of both doctrine and practice. One very serious moral failure with which Paul dealt was that described in 1Cor. chapter 5. It was an example of gross, open sin that needed to be addressed by the church. However the Corinthians had not dealt with this sin. On the contrary, they were "puffed up" (v.2) and even "glorying" (v.6) in it.
Bro. Strickland helped us to see into Paul's heart as he wrote again to the Corinthians about this matter, only this time, not to rebuke them but to rejoice in the fact that they had received his instruction, obeyed it, and had made this matter right.
Paul had been grieved in his own spirit because he had had to write such a harsh rebuke to them. He didn't want to do it, but he had to do it. Bro. Strickland made the application of this by telling us that very often it would be much easier on a pastor to not have to deal with sin. It would be much easier not to practice Church discipline. It is not something that the pastor just wants to do. He leads his flock to exercise discipline because it is necessary for the spiritual health of the Church.
Also, Bro. Strickland spent a good deal of time dealing with the distinction between "godly sorrow" and "the sorrow of the world"(v.10). Another great theme of this message was the cause and effects of true repentance .
My review doesn't do this excellent message justice. Everyone seemed to agree that this was probably the best treatment of this passage that we had heard. My own personal reaction was:"Shoot! I wish I'da said that!"
I wish I had time to tell you about Bro. Steve Weaver's sermon on Nehemiah ch. 8 and Bro. Howard Estep's message on the Kingdom of God, but I gotta go mow. I'll try to write about the others later today if possible.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
